Extreme Microbes Found in Crystals Buried 200 Feet Beneath the Sea of Japan

[Judi Lynn]

By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | January 17, 2019 02:58pm ET

Buried hundreds of feet under the ocean bottom in the Sea of Japan, where bone-chilling temperatures and intense pressure discourage most forms of life, there live some very hardy microbes. Their deep-sea secret? They hunker down in pockets inside tiny mineral grains, which are then sealed into deep-sea crystals.

Scientists discovered the crystal-encased microbes during an expedition to Joetsu Basin to sample gas hydrates — crystalline solids of gas and water that form in the ocean under high pressure and intense cold. They presented their findings in December at the annual conference of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

After the researchers examined massive hydrates collected at the sea bottom off Japan's western coast, they found that some of the hydrates contained tiny grains of a mineral called dolomite. And dark spots in the dolomite hinted that there was yet another surprise to come, researcher Glen Snyder, a professor at Meiji University in Japan, told Live Science at the conference. [Extreme Life on Earth: 8 Bizarre Creatures]

While the hydrates were quite large, measuring up to 16 feet (5 meters) long, the dolomite grains were tiny — about 30 microns, or 0.001 inches, in diameter, Snyder said. The researchers discovered the dolomite in residue left behind after they chemically separated the hydrates into gas and water.

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https://www.livescience.com/64532-microbes-inside-gas-hydrate-crystals.html